New York City, Nov 1 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The ING New York City Marathon 2009 starts at 8:20 am in Central Park today. The ING New York City Marathon 2009 is going to have around 42,000 runners this time. There is a guaranteed prize purse of over $800K, which adds to the energy levels of the serious runners.

The New York City Marathon is a major annual marathon of 26.219 miles, and it has a long course that runs through all the five boroughs of New York City.
 The race is organized by New York Road Runners and has been an annual affair since 1970.

The financial group ING has started sponsoring it a few years ago. It is typically held on the first Sunday of November and it attracts professional competitors as well as amateurs from all over the world. Because of the amazing popularity of the race, participation of the runners is typically chosen by a lottery system.

Watch it on television: Race coverage starts at 9:00 a.m. EST on WNBC Channel 4 in the New York viewing area and continues until 2:00 p.m. Nationally, the race will be broadcast on NBC from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST.

Online: Watch the 2009 NYC Marathon online live at 9:00 a.m. on UniversalSports.com.